Ambition report 21st.May'18
May 21, 2018 Sydney 4 photos
Tuna (Yellowfin)
Tuna (Yellowfin)
Marlin (Striped)
Marlin (Striped)

Trip Summary

Tuna and Marlin: Striped and Blue Marlin along with Yellowfin tuna , Mahi Mahi and some huge Tiger sharks are still haunting Sydney waters. When you consider that it is nearly June the fishing is quite incredible. I suppose what is really remarkable is sea temperatures still around 23 degrees. Even though all the above species are still around you still have to work hard and have a bit of luck on your side to succeed. I went out on Sunday expressly to stay out late and cube into the evening. While travelling out I heard that 'Reef Magic' had tagged two Marlin, a Striped and a Blue and 'Murryfin' had also tagged a Striped Marlin. It was looking good ! We saw loads of Gannets bombarding bait schools as we travelled out but no lookers on the lures. We crossed that 2 degree temperature break that is so well defined on the SST's but continued out, I wanted to see what was at the thousand fathom line. On the way I crossed another break where the temperature dropped significantly and there was a well defined thermocline below which I marked quite a few fish and bait. However I continued out to the thousand fathoms. When we finally arrived at the area I wanted it was a marine desert. Neither birds nor bait were present but the water looked better than anything we'd seen on the way out. Never the less I decided to go back to the cooler break a couple of miles back. We started cubing a little after 3pm., the wind was easing and the ocean glassing out. It was an hour or so before a big Blue Shark turned up circling checking out the baits. Shortly after another much smaller Blue turned up. Inevitably the larger shark took one of the baits and as Blue Sharks do, it did nothing. With maximum pressure applied it finally moved off and as it did bit through the leader. Unfortunately the sharks stayed with us, enjoying our burly, for a while then disappeared as silently as they had turned up. As the sun neared the horizon one of the guys had a bite. Not a regular tuna bite, this fish was coming towards the boat. Shark was the call. The fish or shark started pulling drag, slowly at first but increasing in speed as it went. Suddenly after, it had taken a couple of hundred metres of line, it just took off at a thousand miles an hour, much faster than any shark I'd caught. Needless to say a 40 kg. leader can only take so much and inevitably parted and we were left with a mystery. We had no further action, it was late and time to head for home. On the way I heard that the boys on 'Carnage' had weighed a 450 kg. Tiger shark at the club adding to a larger Tiger caught by a Port Hacking boat on Saturday. Of interest I think is that the guys fishing for Tigers generally start burlying in about 80 fathoms. At present the sea temperature in that area is only 18 degrees and the water green. It poses a conundrum considering that Tigers are a warm water species. I guess though that we'll never know what lies below. Tight lines, Ivan
Ivan Bennett
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Other reports from this captain

Ambition Report 27th.May’25
Ambition Report 27th.May’25
May 25, 2025
I took Zakk and his friends from North Carolina out on Sunday. Zakk was keen to catch his first Marlin. However, after the weather we’d experienced over the previous week I had no idea what to expect. The charts only displayed the ocean currents which didn’t look very exciting, with no info of temperatures. So, we were basically going out blind, not that I that I trust the charts implicitly, however they do give a good overview. I put the lures in at the Twelve Mile where there were a couple of boats jigging and headed out. The temperature slowly increased to 20.8C at the shelf and as it turned out only increased to 21C at the thousand fathom line. On the way out we saw nothing neither birds nor bait. But I get ahead of myself. Just inside Browns I marked a bait school it wasn’t very solid echo but I did a circle and as I straightened up Ron let us no in no uncertain terms that there was a Marlin behind the *Blue illusion. It hit and took a bit of line but no hook up. When this happens, I always keep an eye on the *Brad ‘J’ on the shotgun. I have found that all too often if a Marlin hits one of the closer in lures and is not spooked it will come in on the shotgun. Sure enough, this one did too and was hooked up solidly, as it turned out the hook went right though the upper bill. It was a long hard fight, the Marlin hardly jumped, saving its energy until Ron took the leader as you’ll see in the video. There was a bit of tag teaming but eventually the Marlin, a quite big Stripy was brought along side and with photo’s taken released. With the pressure off now I continued out hoping to find the Yellowfin which should be here now. At the thousand fathom line I turned around not having seen anything, noting the current was coming from the East, not a very hopeful sign, hoping we might find another Stripy around the shelf. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any more bait, nor saw any birds and with daylight running out it was time to head for home. On the way in we did see a couple of Whales which performed for the charter but conversely also a caution for me. Tight lies, Ivan • All lure used unless otherwise specified are Pakula Lures .
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Ambition Report 27th.April’25
Ambition Report 27th.April’25
May 11, 2025
Today was an interesting day at sea. It actually epitomised Game Fishing…ninety nine percent boredom and one percent mayhem, a lot of the time anyway. I took out Kin and some friends from Hong Kong today. These guys had never caught anything bigger than the equivalent of a Black Bream and were keen to catch a big fish. By any measure it was a very slow day out there today but after hearing of Yellowfin and Marlin caught yesterday the motivation was there to persevere. After several hours of trolling we hooked a Striped Tuna which created a lot of excitement and photo taking. After which we continued on just hoping something else would happen. After several more fruitless hours and with time running out I turned for home. I’d virtually given up on Marlin but as we approached the ’12 Mile’ Ron let us know in no uncertain terms that there was a Marlin following the short corner, a ‘Pakula Evil’. It hit the lure but no hook up then turned away, I thought that that was it but then it or another Marlin came in and took the lure solidly, hooked up and was off running. At the same time the starboard rigger got hit but didn’t hook up. Then amid the mayhem the port rigger was hit and took off at a rate of knots. It was absolute mayhem on deck as you’ll see in the video. Meanwhile Ron was working to clear the shotgun, frantically trying to keep the Brad ‘J’ from being eaten by yet another Marlin. With these guys of limited experience and limited English the last thing we needed was a triple hook up, a double was going to be problematic enough. Fortunately the fish on the ‘Lumo’ dropped off after a few minutes so we could concentrate on just the one fish which after some tag teaming, and lots of motivation, some of which I’ve had to mute from the video, was brought to the boat and released. Thankfully the perseverance paid off and Kin and his friends ended up experiencing the excitement of Game fishing as well as the tedium. Tight lies, Ivan
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Ambition Report 27th.April’25
Ambition Report 27th.April’25
April 25, 2025
It was interesting fishing last week-end. I took Changyu and his friends out on Thursday hoping for a Marlin or Yellowfin. However there was still a residual swell running with a short frequency which exacerbated by a runout tide made for quite uncomfortable conditions. However conditions did ease a bit when we got out past the bounce back from the cliffs and the effects of run, but by then the damage was done. So, we headed back in and spent the day fishing in the harbour. Not something I can get excited about. It was back to grass roots fishing, catching lots of different species and seeing the excitement of newbies catching their first fish is in itself quite satisfying. Friday dawned a different day, it was pouring rain out to sea but the swell had ironed out and as the rain dissipated the sea calmed down. Again, Yellowfin and Marlin were on the menu. On Wednesday there had been a good bite from North of Broken Bay up to the Norah canyons. A bit too far for us to go but we did work our way up in that direction. We got our first strike just shy of the ‘Bait Station’ but no hook up. There weren’t many boats out but out there all caught fish,‘The Dom’ informed me that they’d tagged two Marlin earlier on in this area. I learned ‘Reel Smart’ and ‘El Pirata’ each tagged one and ‘Reel Smart’ also caught a big Mahi Mahi. We found a Stripy sunning itself but couldn’t excite it into taking the lure even after a couple of passes. Other than some flying fish and a patch of birds working on what appeared to be Striped tuna there was little bait in the area. However, it was patently obvious there were fish in the here so it would have been silly to leave the area. Eventually patience was rewarded when after hitting the Pakula Lumo and not hooking up a Striped Marlin found the Pakula Brad ‘J’, Ron then successfully teased it into striking and hooking up. After a short fight we released the fish, a nice Striped Marlin. Tight Lines, Ivan
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